Bold
by Manufactured Guidelines
Summary: Kaoru fills in a personality quiz for Kyouya. He gets some of the answers wrong, but Kyouya is happy to correct him...


The twins were taking a personality quiz on a laptop they'd brought to school that day. Gleefully, they filled in answers for everyone and exacted great pleasure in reading the results out loud.

"Tamaki," Hikaru announced, "matches the Fool." He cackled. "Ne, that describes him perfectly!"

"Though you are a good actor, those who know you best will always get the better of you," read Kaoru. "Because you take badly to criticisms, no matter whether or not they are real or simply perceived, people around you derive their amusement from manipulating your reactions." He laughed, before delivering the last line. "Your buffoonery can't be real…can it?"

Tamaki scowled and, perfectly fulfilling his match, screamed red and chased Hikaru across the room. The two noisily exited.

There was a blissful moment's peace, which the remaining club members soaked in gladly. It was ended, however, rather quickly.

"Haruhi," called Kyouya from his desk. "Go bring those two back."

There was a disappointed pause. Haruhi eventually sighed, but chose not to argue. As she stood, Kyouya issued another directive. "Also, find the seniors. They haven't shown up yet."

Haruhi sighed again, something she had been doing a lot lately. "I have no idea where they are, so this will take a while," she warned. Tamaki's screams could be heard briefly as she exited through the door.

After she left, the silence became even more palpable. It was a ringing silence, punctuated only by Kyouya's steady typing.

Kaoru was left alone with Kyouya. It wasn't anything particularly exciting, given that Kyouya was simply working (as usual), and Kaoru was left idle without his twin (as usual). But that lack of excitement was exactly the problem, and the reason Kaoru decided to take a bold step.

_Bold_, bold step.

Probably something even Hikaru wouldn't do.

He began to fill in a quiz for Kyouya.

"Question one," he began. "What is your greatest weapon?"

He listened for a reaction. When none seemed to be forthcoming, he began to fill it in. "Intelligence," he stated, "and the ability to always keep cool." _Amongst a great lot of other things,_ he thought to himself. Here, he noted with interest, there was a brief pause in the steady _tap-tapp_ing of keys. Wondering whether or not Kyouya was _listening_, or simply taking a necessary pause in his typical machine-gun typing, Kaoru second-guessed that answer. _But wait, maybe that's not really a weapon. Maybe "intelligence" is too general. Maybe I should have put that it's his great ability in manipulating people? Or perhaps his ability to always make people see his way…what is that called…seduction?_ Kaoru paused, embarrassedly. _No, not seduction. Persuasion. Yeah._

Shaking himself, he continued. "Question two: how do you interact with your siblings, if any?"

Kaoru stopped, wondering if he was allowed to answer this kind of question. He decided to keep it brief, and to his best understanding of Kyouya. "Competitively with brothers," he said. "Quite well with sister…?"

Kaoru wished he knew Kyoya better.

Feeling slightly uncomfortable, he moved on. "Question three: what's your style of dress?"

This was an easy answer. "Formal," he said confidently, "and when that is not appropriate, casually suave. Looks good in anything."

He heard the typing once again falter. In the heavy silence that followed, Kaoru realized that Kyoya had definitely begun to listen at that point. He suddenly became very self-aware, but plunged on. _No turning back, anyway_, he rationalized.

"Question four: What kind of job is most appealing to you?"

Kaoru began to regain some of his confidence. Cheekily, he said, "Stripper!"

He was satisfied to hear Kyoya make the classic exhaling noise of someone withholding a surprised laugh. Chuckling to himself, he corrected the form. "Business man," he muttered, and considered it for a while before amending, "Eventually ruler of the world."

The typing had entirely ceased at this point.

Grinning, he moved on to question five. "What makes you smile?" He inwardly rolled his eyes at this one. "Money," he automatically answered. "Power."

But then he heard something. Something so quiet, he wasn't even sure if it was there.

He looked up, only to see that Kyouya was watching him.

A flash of panic and self-consciousness returned in an instant. Deciding not to ask about what he'd heard, Kaoru moved on.

"Question six…um…" he hesitated. He became aware that Kyouya was standing, and _was walking toward him, and oh no, please don't be angry…_

He turned to the screen. "What…is…your current…relationship status?"

Kaoru didn't know, and Kyoya was now behind him, _looking over his shoulder…_

"Uninvolved, but interested in someone," he said.

_What?_

Kaoru turned around, and, feeling very awkward, took a stab at it. "Haruhi," he guessed, slightly disappointed.

He saw Kyouya's brows furrow, ever so slightly, before returning to passivity. "No," he answered. "And you also made a mistake on form five." He reached over and behind Kaoru, entering something on the laptop's keyboard.

"Tamaki then," Kaoru suggested, again. He wasn't quite sure of _why_ he said that, but he had to keep trying, somehow.

"No," repeated Kyouya. "Not Tamaki."

"Then…" Kaoru stopped. _Who? _

He turned back to the laptop.

Form five's corrected answer read, "You."

* * *

.

Thirty minutes, first Ouran (and fanfiction in general) piece in over a year. Kyouya and Kaoru just because.


End file.
